Wintertime e-gov docs

Image by monicore from Pixabay

The library has thousands of electronic government documents in its catalog. They're 100% free, can be accessed from the comfort of your home, and cover a wider and more interesting variety of topics than you might think.

Below are a few e-gov docs that might help make your wintertime a little easier, whether you're staying at home or traveling elsewhere:

• How to Prepare for a Winter Storm - Includes information about how to winterize your home and vehicle, avoid carbon monoxide poisoning, recognize signs of hypothermia and frostbite, and more. There's also a helpful checklist.
• Winter Driving Tips - Learn how to prepare your vehicle for winter weather and stay safe on the road.
• CDC Digital Media Toolkit: 2019-20 Flu Season - Lots of shareable resources related to the CDC's season flu vaccination campaign, including posters and flyers about the flu vaccine, the symptoms of the flu, what to do if you get the flu.
• Holiday Food and Nutrition Resource List - A list of physical and electronic resources on holiday recipes, food safety, and healthy eating. Includes resources that may be useful for those with diabetes or food allergies.
• SnowNews - If you just really miss snow, you can read about the Snow Survey Program and the science of snowpack here. Complete with snowy pictures!

Drive Texas Map

Are you planning a Texas road trip anytime soon? Then you should definitely check out the online Drive Texas map created by the Texas Department of Transportation. This map provides up-to-date information on Texas road conditions. It's a handy resource to consult before going on any road trip.

Each icon on the map represents a different condition:construction, closed, damaged, accident, etc. 

The map allows users to zoom in to a particular location, or you can search for a specific place with the map's search tool. If you click on an affected roadway, you will be provided with additional information.

Close up view of Stephenville area. 

After clicking on the affected road this information appears. 

The map has tools that allow you to choose what type of condition (i.e. accidents, etc.) you want to see on the map. You can also choose to see future planned construction or closures. There are options that also allow you to see traffic conditions or the locations of rest areas and travel information centers.

Choose to view various types of current and future conditions

Find locations of rest areas and other resources. 

Traffic conditions in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. 

Before you start your next Texas road trip, you should consult some library resources as well.

Here's a few books we have on the topic:
Exploring the Edges of Texas by Walt Davis and Isabel Davis.
History along the Way: Stories beyond the Texas Roadside Markers by Dan K. Utley and Cyntia J. Beeman.
Texas Road Trip: Stories from Across the Great State and a Few Personal Reflections by Bryan Woolley.

Library staff can assist you in finding information resources for your next road trip at reference@tarleton.edu or 254-968-9249.

The Racial Dot Map

Demographers at the University of Virginia's Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service have created an interactive map that allows users to examine population groupings throughout the United States.

The map's creators used data gathered from the 2010 census to place 308,745,538 dots on a map of the United States. Each dot represents one person counted in that census. The dots are color-coded by race/ethnicity: whites are represented with blue dots, African Americans with green dots, Hispanics with orange dots, and Asians with red dots. People who don't fall under any of the above categories are represented with brown dots.

A view of the lower 48 states.

The map allows users to zoom in to see the demographics of local areas.

A close up view of the Dallas/Fort Worth area. 

Each dot is smaller than a pixel. That makes viewing individual dots in rural areas challenging. The map allows users to turn off the racial color-coding, and every person is then represented with a black dot. This helps to better see people in rural areas.

A close up view of Stephenville, TX with color-coding removed. 

Take some time to explore this fascinating map.

Grassburrs from 1970 through 2012 Now Online!

You can now view the 1970 through 2012 Grassburr yearbooks on the Portal to Texas History!

You can use the search box at the top of the page to look for a particular organization or name (try your own!), or you can click on the title of a yearbook and browse through it page by page.

Grassburrs going back to the first one in 1916 are in the process of being added. It is taking a bit longer with these older yearbooks as many of them are more fragile and must be scanned using a different process.  We will also continue to add the yearbooks from more recent years (2013 and onward).

New Database: Garland Encyclopedia of World Music

Are you a Music major? Maybe you're a music fan? 

Tarleton Libraries has a new database called Garland Encyclopedia of World Music located on the A-Z Database List. 

Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Volume 8: Europe ed. Rice, Timothy, Porter, James & Goertzen, Chris

With this database, you can explore several types of music from all over the world.

You can also create "play lists" which are themed collections of materials and can be created by any user of the database.

Users can create play lists containing various types of documents, images, whole videos, tracks, segments (clips) and/or other items such as links to any URL.

Play lists can be annotated, edited, copied, shared, and all play lists contain their own unique static URL. Play lists can be used as lists of personal favorites, class viewing/listening assignments, or as a teaching resource for in-class use.

Check it out and let us know what you think! 

Need assistance? 

Contact us: 

(254)968-9249 or reference@tarleton.edu 

The DSL Wants YOU to Take a Suvery

Are you a library user?

Have you used our Discovery @ Tarleton service which allows you to search the library's online catalog and 85% of our academic databases simultaneously?

If so, we're looking for a few more people to take our survey and provide feedback on Discovery @ Tarleton.

Help us help you by telling us your thoughts.

The survey is anonymous so please give us your honest opinions on this library service.

Black History Month

Every year since 1976, the U.S. president has designated February as Black History Month.  It celebrates the achievements of black Americans. Many other countries around the world devote a month to celebrating black history.

Here are some resources to find out more about Black History Month including biographies, timelines, quizzes & games, even some lesson plans.  Take a look!

• African American History Month 
• History.com
• Wikipedia
• Infoplease
• TeacherVision

Online Government Documents, in the library catalog

There are tons of free online government documents available, but they can sometimes be tough to hunt down (or even remember that they exist). To try to make them easier to find and use, we've started adding them to the library's catalog - we now have 6,103!

Government documents cover an amazing range of topics - education, science, agriculture, you name it. I've included a list below of some of the interesting online government documents I've come across in our catalog:

• The docs : a graphic novel - Did you know that the government has published graphic novels? Yes, this is a full-color graphic novel produced by the Naval Health Research Center. It depicts the story of four Naval Corpsmen deployed to Iraq.
• Biosecurity : the key to keeping your horses healthy - A brochure with bulleted tips on how to keep your horses healthy when showing them, bringing in new horses, visiting auctions or other farms, and when having visitors over to your farm. It also includes a few disinfecting tips.
• Dealing with debt : 1992-93 bachelor's degree recipients 10 years later - This report looks at the borrowing patterns of 1992-93 bachelor's degree recipients and provides details on how many of them had paid off their loans by 2003, and how many of them were still repaying their loans, plus how much they still had left to repay.
• Job accommodations for people with food allergy - A quick overview of some of the job accommodations that might be useful for people with food allergies.
• Door-to-door meat sales - Consumer advice detailing how to safely buy from door-to-door meat salespeople.
• "Free trials" aren't always free - More consumer advice, this time telling you what to look for before you sign up for that exciting-looking free trial you just spotted online or elsewhere. It also tells you who to contact if you've been wrongly charged for a "free" trial.
• Complete guide to home canning - Everything you ever wanted to know about home canning. This explains how to can fruits and fruit products, tomatoes and tomato products, vegetables and vegetable products, fermented foods and pickled vegetables, jams and jellies, and poultry, red meats, and seafoods.

If you'd like to try searching online government documents in the library's catalog, you can do that by doing an Advanced Search for Type: Government Document, Location: Online Access.

Doing research from home?

I know a lot of students and faculty do research and need to access library resources from off campus. Recently the library purchased some additional electronic books (eBooks) covering all academic areas. The library now has over 56,000 eBooks you can use and access from anywhere in the world! Other online resources available include digital music you can listen to and/or download, electronic journals (or eJournals as we call them), government documents (eGov) and more! The library catalog includes over 400,000 items with over 16% available remotely! And don’t forget about the 174+ electronic databases with tons of full-text articles!

Doing research from home? We have you covered!

(If you need information about how to access these resources go to - http://www.tarleton.edu/library/offcampus.html)

Top 10 Tuesday: Tips for E-Research

Research can be pretty daunting -- so many possible starting places, so little time. Online resources can help us locate useful, quality information, as well as meet deadlines if used systematically. The following list presents one possible strategy: begin with general resources and progress to more specialized resources.

10. Start with Wikipedia for topic overviews.
While not considered appropriate for most academic papers, encyclopedias like Wikipedia are good starting spots because they can help us understand a topic well enough to begin researching it.

9. Read the library's e-books (and print books, too).
Books offer in-depth discussions, have indexes for locating specific information, provide recommended reading lists, and can help you obtain a lot of information in a short time.

8. Use Google Scholar to begin locating materials.
Use this tool to locate article citations and, perhaps, links to articles in Tarleton Libraries' databases via SFX. It's a handy way to get a sampling of the research materials available on your topic.

7. Advance to the Tarleton Libraries' web site.
When you're ready to locate scholarly sources (i.e. when your instructor says "use peer-reviewed resources" or "locate some credible books on this subject"), go to your library -- either online or in person. Check out the resources, tips, and services available to you as part of the Tarleton community. You may be surprised at the resources that await you.

6. Check out the library's subject research guides.
These guides offer "starter" lists of databases and selected Internet sites, which are organized by subject to help "jumpstart" your research.

5. Search the library databases.
Using the library's databases gives you access to 1000s of electronic journals, trade magazines, and newspaper, as well as article citations, research reports, and online reference works.

4. Use interlibrary loan to get more materials.
If what you want/need isn't available via your Tarleton library (either electronically or in print), ask us to get it for you via your ILLiad account.

3. Evaluate, evaluate, evaluate.
Use evaluation criteria like authority, currency, reliability, etc. to help you choose resources worthy of being in your papers/projects.

2. Use the University Writing Center's citation resources.
The Writing Center staff can help you organize, develop, and document all types of research papers -- in person and online.

1. Confused? Ask for assistance.
Use Dick Smith Library's Ask a Librarian email reference, call the library's Information Desk (254-968-9249), or stop by during library hours. We can help you locate resources, give you tips for searching the library's database/catalog, and assist you in figuring out how to cite sources.

Today in History - The Library of Congress American Memory

The staff member who was supposed to post in the Library Online Lounge is out today with an injury, and I did not remember this until a half-hour before I'm supposed to go home! Scrambling around for something to post, I Googled "today in history" and came up with this.

The Library of Congress' American Memory website

provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. It is a digital record of American history and creativity. These materials, from the collections of the Library of Congress and other institutions, chronicle historical events, people, places, and ideas that continue to shape America, serving the public as a resource for education and lifelong learning.

Poke around their collections sometime - there's everything from baseball cards to Coca-Cola TV advertisements to daguerreotype photos; panoramic maps to WPA posters to quilts.

30 Fabulous Freebies

Money's tight for everyone -- especially for college students. So discovering sources for free entertainment and services can sometimes be a real blessing. The Kiplinger's Pesonal Finance Magazine article "30 Fabulous Freebies" offers tips and sources to help us conserve dwindling funds.

The links in the article include sites that offer

• FREE
• video games
• birthday goodies
• software
• TV shows and movies
• money for grad school
• mobile apps
• books, sheet music, e-books, music
• kids' meals
• digital storage space
• tech recycling
• workouts
• plus other items of possible interest

As always, be sure to read all the fine print and choose only what's useful for you.

15 Essential Web Tools for Students

A recent Mashable post by Josh Catone offers a guide to 15 Essential Web Tools for Students, plus links to the tools and tips for using them. With all the tasks everyone manages every day, these tools are very handy.

• Stay Organized: web applications to help you get and stay organized.
• Evernote -- note taking tool that lets you sync notes between the web, your phone, and any computer
• Notely -- solution for taking notes and staying organized
• GradeMate -- organizer for creating to-do lists, managing due dates, and collaborating
• Backpack -- tool for keeping research organized
  
  
• Study Better: web tools to help you get the most out of your study time.
• StudyRails -- for people who have trouble blocking out distractions when it comes time to study
• Diggo -- web-based highlighter and sticky note system for annotating your web research and sharing work with classmates
• Delicious -- tool for collecting web resources for a class, project, or paper under a single tag
• Mindmeister -- organize your thoughts and research through mind maps
  
  
• Work and Collaborate: web-based and social tools that help you get your work done and collaborate with others on group projects.
• Google Docs -- online word processing and spreadsheets applications that let you work together on group assignments
• EtherPad --collaboration tool that lets a group of people edit a document at the same time and see what everyone is writing as they write it
• Sliderocket -- online presentation building tool for creating multimedia presentations that are accessible from anywhere
• Wikidot -- a simple, wiki hosting solution for creating an unlimited number of wiki pages to organize projects and group research
  
  
• Cite Right: tools to help you keep track of your sources and cite them properly.
• CiteMe -- search the world’s largest library catalog by title, author, subject, or ISBN and get formatted citations in APA, Chicago, Harvard, MLA, or Turabian style
• EasyBib -- automatically create citations in APA, Chicago/Turabian, and MLA styles
• Zotero -- automatically collects your research sources and lets you create citations in any of one of over a thousand different styles

Check 'em out!

You Signed Up -- Now How Do You Opt Out?

"Deleting accounts you've created on Facebook, MySpace, AOL, and elsewhere on the Web isn't always easy." To help people manage their online accounts, Eric Griffith at PC Magazine offers the article "How to Delete Accounts from Any Website," which gives step-by-step instructions, phone numbers, fax numbers, links, consequences and tips for how to opt-out of these sites:

• Amazon.com
• AOL/AIM
• Apple’s MobileMe
• Audible.com
• Blockbuster Online
• Blogger
• Classmates.com
• eBay
• Facebook
• Flickr
• Friendster
• Google
• iTunes
• LinkedIn
• MyLife.com (formerly Reunion.com)
• MySpace
• Netflix
• PayPal
• Photobucket
• Twitter
• Windows Live ID
• Yahoo
• YouTube

Top Ten Tuesday – 10 Library Resources You Should Know About

It's Tuesday, that means it is time for a list!

Library resources can make your research life easier. I saw a similar list for another library and was blown away that the Tarleton Libraries have even more to offer you! Here are 10 Library Resources you should know about!

• Tarleton Libraries Online Catalog – Find the books, periodicals, videos, audio books, CD, DVD, etc. available at Tarleton Libraries.

• Online periodicals by title (SFX) - Find online full-text journals by Title and/or by subject category

• Databases by Subject - Find searchable journal article indexes and more relevant for your research subject

• Interlibrary Loan (Illiad) - Have books and journal articles from other academic libraries delivered to you at the Tarleton Library. Articles are often delivered electronically within 24 to 48 hours.

• Metalib - simultaneously search multiple information resources such as the library catalog, online databases, journal articles, newspapers and selected quality Internet resources.

• Online E-books – Full Text books available from anywhere 24 hours a day!

• WorldCat - Find books, media and more in libraries worldwide. Request items using ILLiad

• Research Guides - General subject, topical and Subject-related guides created by Tarleton Librarians

• EndNote Web - Create bibliographies in your choice of citation style with a click -- and much more. (You must establish your EndNote account though Web of Knowledge)

• Subject Librarians - Need one-on-one research assistance? Have questions about library collections or services? Ask a Librarian! Get help and ask questions in person at the library, by phone at 254-968-9249, by email, or via the web at http://www.tarleton.edu/~library/askaref.html

The Tarleton Libraries have these and more resources available for you. We hope to see you in the library soon!

Cool Websites and Tools (edition #199)

If you're interested in learning about online tools, makeuseof.com offers lists, links, descriptions, reviews and user comments to help you choose tools that fit your needs. In addition, posts like "Cool Websites and Tools" bring the information together in useful lists like the ones posted in edition #199 below.

All listed websites are FREE (or come with a decent free account option).

1. AwayFind - Make sure you receive urgent emails when you are offline or on vacation. AwayFind gives you a custom form that people can use to reach you via SMS when you’re not accessible via regular emails. Read more: AwayFind - Receive Urgent Emails While Offline Or On Vacation.
2. Cornell Notes Generator - Generate printable note taking sheets. You can customize and make sheets ruled, graph style or have them blank. Moreover there are options to add name, subject, date, etc. Read more: PDF Notes Generator - Print Sheets for Note Taking.
3. DeadlineApp - Simple reminder tool. Set up reminders from the site or schedule reminders via email, instant messenger or mobile phone. Read more: Deadline - The Simplest Tool To Set Up Reminders.
4. DukaUs - Free group calling service for US and Canada. You can invite up to 5 participants and talk a maximum of 30 minutes per day. Read more: DukaUS - Free Group Calling for US and Canada.
5. HideLinks - Offers a simple way to mask your private bookmark under a different URL and then password protect it. Read more: HideLinks - Password Protect Your Bookmarks.
6. NumberZoom - Get info on telemarketers, collection agencies, and other unknown numbers left on your caller ID machine. Read more: NumberZoom - Lookup Unknown Caller IDs.
7. PiccDrop - Upload, host and even hotlink your images online for free. There are no ads either. Read more: PiccDrop - Host and Hotlink Images Online.
8. Project Draw - Easy to use online diagram and plan drawing tool. Draw diagrams, floor layouts, network plans, and lots of other stuff. Read more: Project Draw - Draw Plans and Diagrams Online.
9. Protonotes - This tool comes as a big help for those teams who are working on web development projects. It helps the team members to easily add notes and collaborate on prototypes, no matter where they are in the world. Read more: Protonotes - Collaborate When Working With HTML Prototypes.
10. Wordpress Theme Generator - Create your own WordPress themes. Easily customize different aspects of your theme such us layout, background color, body size and column dimensions, text style and color etc. Read more: Wordpress Theme Generator.

Top Ten Tuesday

A new feature for the Blog - Want to know how your favorites stack up? Check out the LOL blog on Tuesdays and see how things are ranked. Top Tens from all over the place! If you have a list you would like to see, post a comment and let us know.

We will start with something from the library.

The Top Ten most selected online resources so far this semester:

1 Library Catalog	4009
2 Academic Search Complete	2030
3 Metalib - Quick Search	1055
4 Metalib - Subject Search	876
5 Ebsco Host	811
6 Business Source Complete	792
7 SFX - Title Search	757
8 Jstor	745
9 Eric	512
10 Psychology Journals	493

Wow...you guys have used over 20,743 online resources already this semester and 12,080 have come from this top ten list!